Did your parents ever tell you, “Just do your best”?

Maybe it was before a big exam that you were especially anxious about. The message is clear: if you try your hardest, put in the effort, and do your work with care, the grade you receive doesn’t matter so much. Just do your best.

This week’s Torah portion describes a collective moment of “just do your best” for our Israelite ancestors:

“When you enter the land that your Eternal God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that the Eternal your God is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where your Eternal God will choose to establish the divine name.” (Deuteronomy 26: 1-2)

These verses describe the mitzvah known as bikurim (first fruits). Once we’ve settled the land, we are to plant our fields, tend them, and then bring some of our bounty as a gift to God. Some years, despite our best efforts and our hopes, we might have a disappointing yield. Perhaps the rain came a bit too late or a bit too early, not quite enough or too much. Maybe the soil lacked important minerals or other nutrients. There are so many factors that can affect the quality of the crop. But whether especially excellent or ordinary, we bring some of that bounty as a gift to God.

We’ve done our best, we’ve tried our hardest. And then we offer up the fruits of our labor, all of our best intentions, as a gift to God.

Each year—every moment really—we have the same opportunity. We can bring the first fruits of our labor as a gift to our community: to those we love, to those in need, and to God.

It requires effort and intention. Sometimes only we know if we’ve made the effort with the proper intention.

As we prepare for the New Year of 5784, we can take a few moments to reflect on our work in the year that is coming to a close and consider how we could have done better. And then we make the intention for the year to come: through our best efforts, our creativity, teamwork, and maybe a little bit of luck, may the fruits of our labor bring goodness, joy, meaning, and light to our world.

May we experience the gift of doing our very best.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoshi